Junior Seau: A major force off the football field

It was an eerie phone greeting. At the Junior Seau Foundation Wednesday afternoon, the former pro football player’s voice answered:

“Hi, this is Junior Seau. Thanks for calling my foundation. Because of support of people like you we are helping San Diego kids face life’s challenges. Thanks for being a part of our team.”

Maybe it wasn’t so strange after all, because his close friends and colleagues often describe Junior as larger than life.

Angelo Damante recalls first meeting Seau more than 18 years ago. Seau had asked the Escondido Mercedes-Benz dealer for help starting a charitable foundation. Together they brought it to life, and Damante still sits on the board.

“We developed a friendship, a kinship, far beyond his foundation and my selling cars,” says Damante. “He’d call and talk about things private and things fun.

Whenever Damante asked Seau to speak at his Rotary Club events or the local Boys & Girls Club, Seau showed up. If a waiter or waitress sought him out in a restaurant, Seau often stopped and chatted for several minutes.

One of the linebacker’s favorite events was taking disadvantaged kids shopping at Christmas as part of his “Shop with a Jock” event. Seau never hesitated to jump into the bid action at his annual charity auction to shame attendees — many sports figure friends — into placing or upping their bids. Of course, in an unwritten quid pro quo, Seau also attended their charity fundraisers.

“He had his own life and issues, like I did, and we would discuss them. We had enough of a friendship to talk it out, to seek the support of friends on how to deal with the issues. I think he really missed playing football. It was his passion … he was passionate about everything he did,” says Damante.

Junior Seau watched last fall as ROTC students at Oceanside High School tried out a new fitness course called The Patch Training Facility. It was built with a $25,000 grant from the Junior Seau Foundation.— Eduardo Contreras

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Junior Seau watched last fall as ROTC students at Oceanside High School tried out a new fitness course called The Patch Training Facility. It was built with a $25,000 grant from the Junior Seau Foundation.
— Eduardo Contreras

Former Charger player Willie Buchanon, who also attended Oceanside High School, says Seau never forgot his roots. He was generous to the Oceanside Boys & Girls Club and to their high school, most recently sponsoring an obstacle course called “The Patch.”

And Seau lightened many a somber mood strumming on his ukulele. “That’s what I like to remember,” says Buchanon. “You wouldn’t find Junior without his ukulele.”

When Junior Seau signed with the Chargers in 1990, he celebrated by purchasing a Mercedes from El Cajon saleswoman Pamela Lanier-Snider. He remained a loyal customer after she relocated to the Escondido dealership. “I wouldn’t see him for two or three years, but he’d always greet me like a long-lost relative and he always remembered my name,” she says. Not long after he married Gina, he asked Pamela to deliver a new white 500 SEL Mercedes to her at their home in Mount Helix as a surprise birthday gift.

Financial adviser Ted Roth, who sits on Seau’s foundation, says Seau always attended his firm’s annual conference in Newport Beach. When Roth’s 2009 conference started, news came that San Diego athlete Mike Whitmarsh, a good friend of Seau’s, had just committed suicide. To Roth’s surprise, Junior still showed up. “I said to him, ‘You didn’t need to come,” Roth recalls.

“I told you I would,” replied Seau. “So I’m here today. I knew you were counting on me.”

Seau frequently told his own rags-to-riches story. “He wanted to inspire people to be better than they were,” says Damante. “The Junior I want to remember is the Junior giving talks and inspiring people — the one to whom I’m saying ‘Hallelujah’ at the end of his speech.”

Foundation board member Tom Wornham applauds Seau’s quiet mentoring of young people. Last year, at Wornham’s request, Seau carved out 20 minutes just before the start of his foundation’s scholarship awards ceremony to meet with a troubled high school football player.

“He gave the boy his phone number and told him, ‘I’m here whenever you need me.’ Junior continued to reach out to him during the year,” says Wornham.

“I saw him doing this time and time again. This is what he should be remembered for — not his highs and lows — but the number of kids he mentored and cared about. He did it out of the limelight.”